AZ Snake Pit - Game #9: 8/1, Diamondbacks 2, Dodgers 11An unofficial Arizona Diamondbacks community and bloghttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47033/azsnakepit_f.png2020-08-01T23:12:30-04:00http://www.azsnakepit.com/rss/stream/211151442020-08-01T23:12:30-04:002020-08-01T23:12:30-04:00Luke Weaver “Cut” Down by Dodgers
<figure>
<img alt="MLB: Los Angeles Dodgers at Arizona Diamondbacks" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/v0Ng8Sq-ihN1TSjFmx5uuIuBdQ8=/0x0:3024x2016/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/67144269/usa_today_14666198.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>DBacks clubbed into submission by LA again, 11-2</p> <p id="8Asq6L">The <a href="https://www.truebluela.com/">Dodgers</a> slugged four homers among their 7 extra base hits on the way to tallying 11 runs and <span>Julio Urias</span> held the <a href="https://www.azsnakepit.com/">Diamondbacks</a> to two runs in 6 strong innings. </p>
<p id="4xXdf1">The game started off well enough for Arizona. Starter <span>Luke Weaver</span> stranded a one out double by Mookie Betts but otherwise looked pretty sharp, at least with his fastball velocity and changeup. </p>
<p id="LpRIpg">In the bottom half of the frame the Diamondbacks jumped out to a 1-0 lead. <span>Ildemaro Vargas</span> drew a one out walk. That was followed by a <span>Starling Marte</span> single and a sharp single up the middle by <span>Eduardo Escobar</span> scoring <span>Vargas</span>. The threat was shut down thereafter as <span>Urias</span> struck out <span>Christian Walker</span> on a check swing and got <span>David Peralta</span> swinging to get out of the jam. </p>
<p id="TNurG0">In the 2nd inning <span>Weaver</span> stranded two more runners working around a walk to <span>A.J. Pollock</span> and a two out single by <span>Will Smith</span> by striking out the other 3 batters he faced that inning. His Changeup was really working and getting a lot of swing and miss. However Since98 commented in the game thread:</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/p_EnGGHr4lqZSRudusEN4D2gM9I=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/21691165/Screen_Shot_2020_08_01_at_7.34.56_PM.png">
</figure>
<p id="aJvuJR">This turned out to be insightful and prescient on his part. <span>Weaver</span> actually got through the 3rd cleanly, stranding another double. But in the 4th inning things fell apart for him once again. A leadoff walk was followed one out later by a long homerun from Edwin Rios. The ball traveled 434 feet to centerfield, clanging off the girder above the homerun porch and the Dodgers had a 2-1 lead. One out later <span>Matt Beaty</span> pulled a cutter that didn’t cut down the line for another Dodger homer.</p>
<p id="Hj7Whj">The D-backs answered back with a run of their own in the bottom half of the 4th thanks a <span>Christian Walker</span> double and a two out RBI knock by <span>Carson Kelly</span>, but that’s all they’d get. </p>
<p id="cmLN54"><span>Weaver</span> came back out for the 5th and promptly walked Betts, than gave up a 113 MPH single to right to Corey Seager. In stepped the red menace <span>Justin Turner</span> who ripped another cutter off the wall in deep right center field, scoring Betts and Seager. That was all for Weaver as Torey Lovullo came out to get the ball. </p>
<p id="qp81AH">Bob Brenly lamented several times during the 4th and 5th that Weaver should have realized he didn’t have his cutter and gone with the fourseam, change and curve. Instead Weaver therew 21 cutters, just 12 for strikes, and several of those “strikes” were extra base hits. </p>
<p id="sB38X9"><span>Yoan Lopez</span> relieved Weaver and gave up a single to score <span>Turner</span> and then a homerun of his own to AJ <span>Pollock</span>. Despite an error by <span>Ildemaro Vargas</span> <span>Lopez</span> managed to get out of the rest of the inning, but the damage was done as LA emerged with an 8-2 lead. </p>
<p id="i57UMt">From there the D-backs just flat gave up. A Ketel <span>Marte</span> infield hit in the 5th was promptly erased by a <span>Vargas</span> 5-4-3 double play and that was the last baserunner they had for the rest of the game. There were just four more at bats over the last 15 that even lasted 5 pitches , most of them being just 2-3 pitches long. </p>
<p id="JmPFwJ"><span>Taylor Clarke</span> had two good innings of relief, and then a bad one, allowing 3 runs after getting two quick outs in the 8th. The big blow was a <span>Chris Taylor</span> homerun that closed out the scoring for LA. </p>
<p id="CR8d9v">The Dodgers hit 4 homeruns in 9 innings. The D-backs have hit 2 homeruns in 9 games. As a friend texted me, “Like Varsity against JV”. I can’t argue. </p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/AkRWLct3WIBTK84fYM3lAO3X1kE=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/21691207/Screen_Shot_2020_08_01_at_8.00.55_PM.png">
</figure>
<p id="lbylfP"><a href="https://www.fangraphs.com/livewins.aspx?date=2020-08-01&team=Diamondbacks&dh=0&season=2020">BOX SCORE</a></p>
<p id="239ZtP">Positive WPA: <span>Carson Kelly</span>. +7.9%, Eduardo Esocbar. +5.6%</p>
<p id="3VcGgK">Negative WPA: <span>Luke Weaver</span> -39.5%, <span>David Peralta</span> -8.8%</p>
<p id="mmjWQm">28 Dejected Souls posted 172 comments </p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/JQPCRNeUUNKb7pY_kdq3VxLDn58=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/21691231/Screen_Shot_2020_08_01_at_8.04.18_PM.png">
</figure>
<p id="MMJSMh">With apologies to onedotfive who had the only red comment of the night I’m using editorial license to award COTD to Since_98 for the aforementioned comment on Weaver’s cutter</p>
<p id="9RCaE8">The 3-6 last place DBacks will go for the series split tomorrow when Merrill <span>Kelly</span> faces off against <span>Clayton Kershaw</span>. Game time is 1:10 P.M. Arizona Time</p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2020/8/1/21351305/luke-weaver-cut-down-by-dodgers-diamondbacksJack Sommers2020-08-01T20:00:00-04:002020-08-01T20:00:00-04:00Gameday Thread, #9: 8/1 vs. Dodgers
<figure>
<img alt="English Clergyman Joseph Priestly" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/T1gUU1mwtkz9MA6q_HtgHkqcQPs=/0x892:2871x2806/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/67143911/515455026.jpg.0.jpg" />
</figure>
<div id="8NT8dW">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">August 1 - 1774: England - minister and chemist, Joseph Priestly, discovered oxygen while serving as a tutor at Bowood House in Wiltshire. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/history?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#history</a></p>— Today In History (@Yesterday_Today) <a href="https://twitter.com/Yesterday_Today/status/1289595028487254016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 1, 2020</a>
</blockquote>
<script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div>
<p id="FGvCxh">It must have been really tough to breathe pre-1774...</p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2020/8/1/21351138/gameday-thread-9-8-1-vs-dodgersJim McLennan2020-08-01T19:15:00-04:002020-08-01T19:15:00-04:00Preview #9: 8/1, Diamondbacks vs. Dodgers
<figure>
<img alt="Success Magazine Calendar, August 1903" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ED6nQN1HnNRfvTsWejsysf3CP6w=/68x3578:1895x4796/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/67143840/79642090.jpg.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>New month, new Diamondbacks? </p> <div id="KEU85U">
<div class="pane sports_data_widget lineup clearfix">
<h3>Today's Lineups</h3>
<div class="lineup">
<table width="100%" cellspacing="0" class="zebra">
<thead>
<tr>
<th align="left">DODGERS</th>
<th align="left">DIAMONDBACKS</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="td-last td-name">Max Muncy - 2B</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Ketel Marte - 2B</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="td-last td-name">Mookie Betts - RF</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Ildemaro Vargas - 1B</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="td-last td-name">Corey Seager - SS</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Starling Marte - CF</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="td-last td-name">Justin Turner - DH</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Eduardo Escobar - 3B</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="td-last td-name">Joc Pederson - LF</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Christian Walker - DH</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="td-last td-name">A.J. Pollock - CF</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">David Peralta - LF</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="td-last td-name">Edwin Rios - 3B</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Carson Kelly - C</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="td-last td-name">Will Smith - C</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Nick Ahmed - SS</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="td-last td-name">Matt Beaty - 1B</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Tim Locastro - RF</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="td-last td-name"></td>
<td class="td-first td-name"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="td-last td-name">Julio Urias - LHP</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Luke Weaver - RHP</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="nzJ5IP">
<p id="GSUGiy">What a difference one play makes. Late in yesterday’s game, Arizona were staring dejectedly down the barrel of a 2-6 start, further extending the longest taco-less streak to start a season for them since 1998 [before this year, we hadn’t gone more than TWO games into any season without free tacos since then]. But then, Justin Turner botched a simple ground-ball, and later in the inning. Christian Walker proved that Mookie Betts is human, after all. Despite some nervousness in the ninth, courtesy of Archie Bradley, the D-backs prevailed. The Dodgers are beatable! Who knew? Of course, the team is still two below .500. But every journey starts with a single step...</p>
<p id="IF4Lk7">I think it’s safe to say this will prove a bit of a confidence boost. Though I am still concerned how two of Arizona’s three victories were less about them winning, than the other team gift-wrapping a chance (there was also the W in San Diego where the sun led to a crucial outfield gaffe). On the other hand, if you can not play well and still win... that’s got to be a good sign, hasn’t it? Hasn’t it? Hello? Is this thing on? There’s certainly a boat-load of room for improvement from many D-backs. They’re collectively hitting .204 with an OPS of .580, and we’re now talking 290 PAs. For comparison, one of the worst-hitting players in major-league history, Jeff Mathis, has a career .554 OPS. Arizona is doing little better. </p>
<p id="JWqyyB">But, hey, no Jake Lamb in the line-up! Before you get all excited about that, however, there is a left-handed pitcher starting for the Dodgers, so this was already virtually certain to be the case. Ildemaro Vargas gets to start at first instead, with last night’s hero, Walker, in the role of DH tonight. We also get the first start of the year for Tim Locastro, though rather than hitting leadoff, he finds himself hitting in the #9 hole. However, order likely matters less with the absence of the pitcher. Do wonder how long we’ll see Escobar in the clean-up spot if things continue. His numbers haven’t been great - just 4-for-30, with ten strikeouts - but more worryingly the at-bats simply haven’t <em>looked</em> good. </p>
<p id="Qjcvm9">No sign of a start for Daulton Varsho, or for Alex Young, the latter just getting added to the roster today. It is a difficult line to walk for Mike Hazen and team, balancing current team needs with player development, especially in these unusual times. A young player may be better served by seeing more action on the taxi squad, than riding the pine with the big boys. Josh Rojas, dropped to make way for Young, had managed just one PA over the eight games of the season so far, putting him on pace for... 7.5 major-league plate-appearances in 2020. Similarly, Jon Jay has only appeared in one game thus far. Life at the edge of the backup roster is never easy. </p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2020/8/1/21351102/preview-9-8-1-diamondbacks-vs-dodgersJim McLennan